Mindfulness for Children
Mindfulness is a great skill for children and young people. The idea is that when they pay attention to breathing out and breathing in, they start to feel calm inside. They can learn to notice their feelings, giving them time to decide what they want to do about the feeling, rather than reacting immediately. More so with the ones that are upsetting. It can be especially helpful for those who are easily upset or impulsive, including kids with ADHD, depression, anxiety, or autism. It helps them face daily challenges as they learn to observe their thoughts and feelings, and they can begin to choose their behaviors.
The four Positive Penguins is an award winning, top ranked, fun educational app developed for children to help them understand why they feel the way they do and help them challenge their negative thinking. The app aims to help children understand their feelings come from their own thoughts, not the situations. Often the anxiety and stress we feel comes from not real threats, but stories we make up in our heads. The four positive penguins take you on a journey to help you understand that feelings arise from your thinking and if you challenge your negative thoughts successfully you may be able to see things in a more realistic and even optimistic way.
Breathing Bubbles helps kids practice releasing worries and focusing on good feelings by allowing kids to select the emotion they are feeling and how strongly they are feeling it. Kids can choose to handle their emotion by releasing a worry or receiving a joy through deep breathing and visualization.
Mindful Kids is a boxed card deck that includes 50 creative mindfulness games, visualizations and exercises divided into 5 categories to help children feel grounded, find calm, improve focus, practice loving-kindness, and relax. Whimsical full-color illustrations on both sides of the cards break down each practice into easy-to-follow steps. Tips on individual cards plus an 8-page instructional booklet show modifications that make these activities inclusive for children of all abilities.